


In the City Lights

by alleyholls



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blaine Anderson & Sam Evans Friendship, Broadway Kurt Hummel, College Kurt Hummel, High School Blaine Anderson, M/M, Rachel Berry & Kurt Hummel Friendship, Slow Build, YouTuber Blaine Anderson, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28887678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alleyholls/pseuds/alleyholls
Summary: Blaine Anderson and his best friend Sam Evans are taking the world by storm with their popular Youtube music covers under the name Blam. An overnight sensation, the pair travel to New York with a once in a lifetime opportunity to create their own music with the worlds top producers. The only problem is, no one knows Blaine is the voice behind Blam.Kurt Hummel has finally landed his first Broadway role, albeit a small one. It's hard living in the footsteps of Broadway superstar Rachel Berry. He finds courage in the soothing voice and beautiful face of his favourite Youtube cover artist, Blam.Will Blaine be able to gather the courage to reveal who he really is to the world? And will Kurt be able to let go of his fantasy with Blam to let his charming new curly haired friend into his life?
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel
Comments: 13
Kudos: 17





	1. How It All Started - Blaine

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in a long time, but with this pandemic I've been picking up old hobbies. I just finished a re-watch of Glee, and I got inspired. This is a WIP, I don't have a lot pre-written, and updates will admittedly be pretty slow. I try my best to edit each chapter as I go before posting, but I'm human and I make mistakes. 
> 
> This story takes place in present day, with high school senior Blaine, and first year college Kurt. They are the same age difference as the show. However, Blaine is from Ohio, and Kurt is from upstate New York, then moves to NYC with Rachel for college.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this story as I post it, I think it might be pretty fun! 
> 
> (I will add more tags if they become applicable as I write, so keep that in mind and check them every so often. But this is a fun story, nothing too dramatic should happen.)

“Come on Blaine, everyone’s making YouTube videos these days! Just sit beside me and smile at the camera.” Sam said to Blaine, who had been invited to Sam’s house after school to play video games but instead walked into Sam’s bedroom to see an ominous camera and lights set up. A guitar was resting on his bed, as well as an open laptop showing some lyrics and cords to the new Katy Perry song. Blaine really did love that song.

“I don’t know, Sam. You know I don’t like being in front of big crowds.” Blaine said back. He was sitting on Sam’s desk chair, mindlessly flipping through his unfinished homework notes, since apparently the video games were going to have to wait.

“That’s the beauty of it man! There’s no crowd! It’s just me, you, and the camera.”

“And then everyone on the internet who ever watches the video.” Blaine’s palms were starting to get a bit clammy as he though of the view count of a potential YouTube video. 50 views? 100? Or worse, 1000?

For sure everyone in school would see it. Sam’s on the football team and loves to talk about himself. If he had a YouTube video up, he would be introducing himself to people by saying 'Hey I’m Sam, here’s a link to all of my social medias’.

“Isn’t it like your dream to be a singer? Or Broadway or whatever? This could help!” Sam was so excited he was sitting in front of the camera now with his guitar, strumming a few random chords.

“Sam, that’s not the point. The point is that I’m terrified. I don’t need even more people to look and me and make assumptions and run their mouth with hate comments because of my style, or my hair, or the fact that I’m gay. I just moved to this school, I don’t need even more reason’s for people to hate me.” Blaine tried to explain.

“No one hates you, man. If you just joined us in glee you would be so much happier!”

“The glee club at my previous school is part of what made me transfer. I can’t do it yet, Sam. I’m sorry.” Blaine looked away from Sam’s pleading gaze. It was no secret that Blaine harboured a small crush on the boy. What with his beachy blond locks, dazzling white smile, and hilarious personality, how could he not? But Sam was as straight as they come, and he didn’t want to ruin his first McKinley friend by coming on too strong.

Blaine was waiting for his escape to New York this summer. Where he could move into the NYU dorms and meet his roommate and be nothing but himself from the start. No small-town Ohio homophobia, no high school drama and bullies, no overbearing parents controlling his every move. He would be free to start over.

“Fine, but can we at least jam out a little bit? You can sit over there all pretty and I’ll play some guitar, you sing, and then we’ll force my mom to order us a pizza while I crush your ass in Mario cart.” Sam laughed. He started to play the chords for the Katy Perry song Blaine had seen open on the laptop, so he sat up straight, pulled the lyrics in front of him, and sung along.

He laughed to himself at Sam mouthing along to Blaine singing, rocking out like he was a true popstar to Blaine’s vocals while playing the guitar. Blaine was having so much fun he didn’t even notice the red flashing record sign on the camera, filming Sam in all his popstar glory.

As promised, the boys went downstairs and pleaded with Sam’s mom for some pizza, then played 2 hours of video games before Blaine’s mom was there to pick him up.

“Did you have fun sweetie?” She asked when Blaine hopped into the front seat and clicked on his seat belt. “What did you two get up to?”

“It was fun. We played some games and ate some pizza. We even sang a bit when Sam played the guitar.” Blaine answered.

“Oh, honey that’s fantastic, are you going to re-join the music club?” Blaine’s mom asked excitedly. He was reserved about talking music around his parents ever since the incident at his old school, especially around his mom. She would always get overly excited as if music was the one and only thing he was good at and meant to do for the rest of his life. He was accepted to NYU for an English major. He had other hobbies besides music.

“It’s glee club mom,” Blaine corrected. “And no, schools over in a few months anyways, they don’t need me.”

“I’m sure they would take you at the drop of a dime if you sang in front of that teacher, Mr. Shoe is it? He would love you.”

“It’s Mr. Schuester, mom. And I’m just not interested anymore okay? I’m focusing on my English grade, so NYU doesn’t drop my acceptance. It takes a lot of time to study.”

“I know honey,” Blaine’s mom sighed. “You’re doing fantastic and your father and I are very proud of you.”

“Thanks mom.” Blaine gave her a tight-lipped smile as they pulled into the driveway.

They had to move after Blaine’s incident in order for him to be accepted into McKinley, something about being in a new school zone, so their new house was still feeling kind of foreign to him. It was bigger thanks to the cheaper housing market in Lima, Ohio, but Blaine wasn’t sure if he liked it. There was so much empty space that they didn’t have stuff to fill it with. Blaine’s grand piano sat lonely and dusty in the room that was meant to be formal dining, un-played since the move a few months ago. The Andersons preferred to eat dinner in the living room most nights, so at least they had something to fill that space with.

Blaine went right to his room when they got inside, passing the dusty piano and walking up the stairs where the walls were decorated of pictures featuring him and his older brother Cooper over the years. It was like a timeline, starting from babies, to young children, to teenagers, and for Cooper, an adult, since he was 6 years older. Sometimes Blaine wished he could have his brother’s confidence and ease about life. Coasting through life with everyone and everything loving him.

Once in his room Blaine sat at his desk to finish his homework that he didn’t tackle at Sam’s house, before heading to the adjoining bathroom to wash out his hair gel and get ready for bed. Just as he was about to close his eyes and fall asleep his father peaked his head in and wished him goodnight. Then Blaine was out like a light.

~~

There was a crowd surrounding Blaine’s locker the next morning when he arrived for school. Or, not his locker but the one next to his. Sam’s. That’s how Blaine met Sam, fumbling with his lock then trying to stuff his textbooks inside.

“They never give you enough room, do they?” He had said. Blaine had to do a double take. Was a popular cute blond boy wearing a varsity sports jacket actually talking to him?

“Not really.” Blaine had mumbled back.

“You’re new right? I think I would remember seeing your bowties and hair gel if you weren’t.” At first Blaine thought Sam’s comments were a little on the side of being a bully, but as he got to know him, he realized it’s just how Sam is.

“How could you tell?” Blaine had laughed.

“It sucks getting here so late in the year, but hey what’s your classes? Let me show you around!” Sam had been so endearing, Blaine had no trouble handing the boy his class schedule and letting him introduce him to his friends, who turned out to be a group of people similar to Blaine, and not a bunch of jocks like he was assuming.

“What’s going on, Tina? Why is everyone crowding in front of Sam’s locker? Did he take his shirt off again?” He stopped down the hall at Tina’s locker because he couldn’t reach his own thanks to the crowd of people.

“You don’t know?” She yelled which made Blaine wince from the loud noise so early in the morning.

“Know what?”

Tina pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped quickly at the screen before shoving it in Blaine’s face. He took it from her so he could look at it without it being two inches from his nose. They stood quietly as Blaine watched the YouTube video she had pulled up. A cute blond boy sitting in front of the camera singing a Katy Perry song. Except, it wasn’t the cute boys voice he was hearing, it was his. And the cute boy was Sam.

“That’s you singing right?” Tina asked when it was over, and Blaine had just stood there in silence looking at the blank screen. “I’ve heard you sing, and I’ve heard Sam sing, and that is totally not Sam. But why aren’t you in frame with the mic?”

“Because I didn’t know it was being recorded.” He said through his teeth, then he gave the phone back to Tina and marched over to Sam. He had to push his way past a good handful of people to reach the blond-haired boy. “Sam! What the hell is going on?”

“I’m signing autographs man!” Sam laughed.

“That part is obvious, I’m talking about the video. You know, of last night,” his voice got quieter. “That you said we weren’t going to film. I thought we were just having a fun!”

“It was fun, wasn’t it?” Sam had his full attention on Blaine now and the crazy fans were starting to disperse knowing the bell would chime soon and Sue would be on everyone’s asses to get to class.

“Yeah, last night it was fun when we were just alone in your bedroom!” Blaine expressed, and Sam laughed at the innuendo. “It’s not funny Sam, and it’s no longer fun now that a few hundred people have seen it too!” Blaine waved his arms around trying to indicate the few hundred people being the students at school.

“A few hundred? Try a few thousand! Ten in fact!” Sam smiled, pulling up the video like Tina had, but this time showing the stats.

_A Katy Perry Cover by Blam! 10,385views._

“Ten….ten thousand?” Blaine lost his breath. That was, like, triple the number of students at this school.

“Hell yeah! Isn’t it awesome?”

“For you maybe, I think I might be sick.”

“Oh, come on Blaine, it’s not that bad! You’re not in the video and I never even used your name! I came up with Blam. It’s kind of like a mash up of ours names, no one has to know it’s actually you. Wouldn’t it be fun? You would get to sing and have all these people hear it without all the backlash!” Sam was kind of missing the point, but before he could say anything else the bell went, and they had to head to class. “Think about it! I’ll talk to you later.” Sam said, then he was gone.

Blaine felt like the world was crashing in around him. He was getting tunnel vision, the hall was getting smaller and smaller, and he was breathing heavier and heavier. People he had never met had heard him sing. And they didn’t even know it was him. And they seemed to have liked it. No one was jumping out to scare him or talking behind his back. In fact, the only people who knew it was his voice in that video seemed to be Sam and Tina, and maybe the other New Directions members but Blaine trusted them as if he knew them for his whole life and not just a few months. Maybe, just maybe, he could continue to be the unseen voice of Blam.


	2. How He Found It - Kurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added a picture of the cover that I made for this story. (Hopefully, I've never done it before."

“Step, step, twist, turn, down, up, slide. Wait no it’s step, twist, step, turn.” Kurt was sliding across the floor of his shared apartment living room. Practicing the steps he had memorized for the last 4 months, but for some reason tonight could not get right.

“Kurt would you stop for one night please. I would love for the living room to be used for its actual function and maybe sit down and watch a movie tonight.” Rachel said while walking out of the kitchen carrying bowls of salad for the both of them. “You know these moves as if it’s all you’ve been doing for your entire life. Stop contradicting yourself, you were right the first time. Step, step, twist, turn. See, even I know them.”

“It’s easy for you to say Miss. Broadway Superstar. You already have the leading role, and I can’t even get cast as a tree. I’ve had so many auditions, if I don’t get this one, then I don’t even know if this is the right path for me.” Kurt said, but he took the salad and sat down beside Rachel anyways. A break to eat was probably needed.

“Kurt,” Rachel set her salad on the coffee table and turned to face him fully, then put her hands on his shoulders. “You were made for this. We both were. Don’t ever listen to someone who tells you you’re not. Not even yourself, okay? I will always be here to tell you to shut up, because you are so talented. This industry is tough, Kurt. And I may have the leading role, but it took me countless of auditions to get there. We are told no so many times. More times than we can count. But the one time they say yes? That makes it all worth it. I think what’s best for you now is to sit here, eat this salad that I slaved over, and watch a movie with me.”

“This is definitely a pre-packaged salad you got from wholefoods.” Kurt said with a mouthful of lettuce. “But thank you. And you’re right. If I don’t get this role, there will be another one to audition for next week.”

“That’s the spirit. Now what movie should we watch?”

“Actually, I think I’m going to take my salad to my room and relax in there. It’s getting pretty late anyways. I still have to do my nighttime skin routine and I really should get a good sleep. I don’t want to be exhausted at the audition.”

“You’re going to kill it. Goodnight Kurt.” Rachel said as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom.

Once there, he got comfortable on his bed and opened up YouTube for something to watch while eating. None of his favourite creators had uploaded today, so he clicked his way onto the trending page and selected the first one. Some kind of internet drama channel talking about the latest creator scandals. Kurt half payed attention while he finished off his salad, then let the auto-play feature continue on with the next video as he scrolled through his social media on his phone.

He tuned back in when he heard something intriguing coming from his laptop speakers. It was heavenly. A smooth deep voice, gliding through the words as if he was the one who created them. Kurt set his phone beside him and looked at the laptop screen, but the face looking back was not at all what he pictured. Cute? Absolutely. Floppy blond hair, blue eyes, a strong jaw, paired with equally strong arms playing the guitar, you would be crazy to not think he was cute. But Kurt’s first image of this voice wasn’t of someone who looked so…preppy. He at least was picturing a brunette.

The channel was called ‘BLAM’, and Kurt subscribed to it before the song was even over. Then he went through and looked at all of the covers. About 8 of them were there, each posted one day after the other. He started with the first one, a Katy Perry cover, that was nearing a million views. He watched the cover, then played it a second time as he went to read through the comments.

They mostly seemed to be from young girls, stating that he’s the next Justin Bieber. A few comments mentioning the perfect pitch and tone, some comments asking about the guitar brand, and then one person’s comment caught Kurt’s eye.

_This kid goes to my school, great dude. - JBI_

This prompted Kurt to try and find out more about Blam. A Twitter and Instagram account were linked on the YouTube channel, but they were just further promotional accounts. However, Instagram did say Blam was located in Ohio, that they were a high school senior, and that the account was run by Tina Cohen-Chang. Tina’s account gave no further info besides her journey of dressing like a goth, to dressing like every other high school senior out there.

Kurt listened to more covers as he looked through the promotional social media accounts, following each one of them. Then he put in his Bluetooth earbuds to continue listening as he washed and moisturized his face before putting on pyjamas and getting into bed. By the time he fell asleep, he had listened to all 8 covers 3 times each.

~~

Kurt was strangely calm for an audition day when he woke up. The Blam covers were still playing on an endless loop from the earbuds that fell out of his ears while he was sleeping, one stranded under his pillow and the other one under the sheets. Rachel was already up and gone to her own theatre rehearsal for her starring role in the Broadway musical adaptation of The Princess Diaries.

With the apartment to himself and two hours to spare before he needed to leave for his audition, Kurt decided to treat himself. He set up the Bluetooth speakers and pressed play on the Blam covers then made himself a big breakfast of an egg white omelet, some of Rachel’s fake bacon, and avocado toast.

After about 20 minutes of resting after eating, he got started on his morning workout which basically consisted of jogging on the spot, a few push-ups, sit-ups, a bit of weight work with the dumbbells he and Rachel shared, and finished with a yoga cool down. Then he went over his audition work.

The casting directors of this musical wanted each audition to feature a song, a dance, and a five-minute scene of the character you were auditioning for. Rachel wasn’t there to run lines with, so he talked to himself in the mirror like all the great actors do. After a few run throughs of his lines he sang his chosen song a few times through, then went over his dance moves.

The directors gave him the song and the lines, but he was allowed to choose his own song to dance too. Since the show itself was supposed to have a fun upbeat modern vibe for most of it, he went with his current guilty pleasure song Positions by Ariana Grande. A few run throughs of the dance left him sweaty. Rachel’s advice the previous night about taking a rest worked because he nailed each move, however he felt a little stiff with them. There was something missing that he couldn’t figure out, but whatever it was he hoped the directors wouldn’t notice because he had an hour before audition time.

After a quick shower, Kurt styled his hair and threw on the outfit him and Rachel had spent hours choosing a few nights prior. His best white t-shirt, a bright flashy blue button up to put on overtop, paired with his best jeans, and a new pair of black vans. He made sure he had his audition material, phone, wallet, keys, and his earbuds, then he was walking out of the apartment exactly on schedule.

Kurt and Rachel had been making trips to New York City since they were children. So many times, that even the thought of not moving into an apartment together after high school was out of the question. Sure, they had their bickering’s as friends growing up both wanting the spotlight, but the older they got the more the two realized they could each have their own spotlight because both of them had their own specialties.

He never got tired of hearing the city sounds, or seeing the city lights, or looking at the city buildings. He usually left his earbuds out in order to listen to the sounds around him, but this time after he took his seat on the subway and put them in his ears to listen to the only thing that’s calmed his nerves down in the last 12 hours.

He thanked his lucky stars that his subway journey was all above ground so he could access his data and clicked on the Blam YouTube channel. He was about to click on his favourite cover when a new upload caught his eye.

“You’re kidding me.” He said quietly to himself as he brought his phone closer to his face to investigate.

_Positions- Ariana Grande cover by Blam_

He clicked on the cover. The same cute blond sat there with the same white smile, and then he started to play an upbeat acoustic cover of the very song Kurt was about to audition with. Kurt could hear some piano in the background even though he was holding and playing the guitar in the video. Kurt imagined him layering in the piano after recording the vocals with the guitar as the main sound. He listened to it twice before he sat back and closed his eyes. The first thing he envisioned behind his eyelids was him dancing. It seemed like a good fit.

Was this the missing thing? A re-imagined version of this song with a little more heart and a little less pop star?

No, he shouldn’t be thinking of completely changing his audition just minutes prior. That’s not what professionals do. Although, it is kind of what he does. After all, he got into NYADA by changing his audition song to Not the Boy Next Door at the last second, but he had been preforming that song in Rachel’s basement for years. This would be completely new and different. And yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this is what his audition needed.

He spent the rest of his journey going over his dance inside his head while listening to the cover, and before he knew it, he was arriving at the theatre.

“Checking in for Kurt Hummel.” He said to the lady in the entrance when he walked in, then gave her his ID.

“Nice and early.” She said to him when she looked up his name.

“Always.” He answered while she handed him a name sticker and gave directions to the backstage area.

The theatre was beautiful and classic with tasteful modern renovations. He couldn’t help but stop to stare at the stage and imagine himself up there. Blinded by stage lights, sweaty from hours of dancing, with an audience cheering him on.

Kurt was familiar with auditions, although each one was so different. He had about half an hour before his time slot, so once he was backstage, he wanted to try and go over his dance with the new cover song at least once. Other actors were spread around practicing just as he was about to, although they each seemed to have someone there as moral support or to run lines off of. Kurt didn’t have anyone, but that was okay. He was more than confident on his memorization of the song and lines, but the nerves were creeping up about changing the dance song.

He found a spot in a corner where he would have enough room to move around, but before he could start to practice his name was being called.

“Kurt Hummel auditioning for the role of Tanner?” he heard. A young boy was stood near the stage entrance, looking around. Kurt made his way over to him.

“I’m Kurt Hummel.” He said. “But I wasn’t supposed to audition for another half hour.”

“We know,” The young boy had a name sticker that read Hunter. He motioned for Kurt to follow him as they walked down a narrow hall that led to the side of the stage. “Don’t tell anyone this, but the other guy auditioning for Tanner before you were terrible, the directors send him on his way when he couldn’t even hit the first note of the audition song. You’re the last one here today for Tanner, and since you were here early, they wanted you now.”

Kurt handed Hunter his things he didn’t need on stage, like his script, extra head shots, and keys. Then he handed his phone to the sound guy who didn’t have a name sticker.

“This is the song I’ll be dancing to. Sorry it’s just on YouTube.” Kurt said to the sound guy, feeling a little guilty that he didn’t have it downloaded on a USB like he did with the original song. He got a nod back, then followed Hunter to the side of the stage.

“Mr. Kurt Hummel?” He heard one of the directors speak, calling for him. Kurt took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and walked out onto the stage.

There were four directors sitting about five rows back from the stage, each with a clipboard in hand. They looked nice enough, like they wouldn’t wring his throat out if he blew the audition. Except they did send that other guy packing when he did.

“Hello, I’m Kurt Hummel, here to audition for the role of Tanner.”

“Welcome, Mr. Hummel. My name is Adrian, I am the director and writer of this play.” The man on the far right said. He kind of gave Kurt some modern Willy Wonka vibes with a purple coat and a black cap. “Beside me we have Brittany, our choreographer, Daniel, our music director, and Shannon, our producer. Let’s get started on the audition.”

They started off with Kurt singing the audition song, which was Tanner’s solo from the play, then Brittany got onstage to read the lines with Kurt. She wasn’t the best partner to do the lines with, Kurt hopped she was a better dancer for the play’s sake. He put his all into it, it was a fun scene from the middle of the play that almost made up most of Tanner’s lines since he was a secondary character.

Finally, Brittany went back to her seat and it was time for him to dance. No going back, the sound guy didn’t have his original song. He gave the cue to start and began his routine.

Step, step, twist, turn. He ran over the moves in his head as he did them. It was working perfectly. The original pop sound of the song was a little too much for the routine he had created, but with the stripped-down guitar and piano, he was able to let loose a little bit more, have more fun with it. He even started to sing along, which wasn’t necessary because the directors wanted to judge vocals separately for the role of Tanner, since his solo song wasn’t heavy on the dance moves. By the end of the song, Kurt was laughing with pure joy at how easy it was to dance along to that version of the song. The directors even gave him a standing ovation.

“That was a fantastic dance, Kurt!” Brittany was the first one to speak over the others clapping. Kurt made his way back to centre stage, breathing a little heavy.

“I agree. The happiness and fun you brought into that was fantastic. I don’t think we’ve seen someone so energetic and joyful on stage yet today.” Daniel chipped in, with Adrian nodding along. “I can’t help but ask, who sings that song?”

“It’s Positions by Ariana Grande sung by the YouTube cover artist Blam.” Kurt skipped the part about choosing to dance to this version about an hour ago, he didn’t want to come off as unprepared or unprofessional.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say this, but Kurt Hummel? You got the part.” Adrian said.

Kurt’s heart stopped. Did he just hear that correctly?

“I got the part.” Kurt said, a little speechless like he couldn’t believe it. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Adrian said as he joined Kurt on stage to shake his hand. “Sometimes, you just know. You flowed so easy with Brittany, your voice is wonderful, and your dancing is spot on for the tone of this show. Kurt Hummel, you are Tanner!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I do have a tumblr that you can find me on, @alleyholls  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. The Offer - Blaine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a little bit of swearing at the end of this chapter.

Tina was shivering under Blaine’s fingers as he carefully tried to rinse the blue slushy out of her hair. They had been walking together to the lockers after last period when a few of the hockey team guys stopped Tina to dump the freezing cold, sticky, blue dyed ice over her head. Blaine, who hadn’t been the victim, ushered Tina into the nearest washroom to get it off before it stained.

“It’s so cold.” Tina said as a violent shiver overtook her body when a clump of ice Blaine hadn’t washed off yet ran down her neck. “I’m going to look like a blueberry if this doesn’t come out.”

“You’ll be fine, I don’t think it’s going to stain any skin. We got in here quick enough.” Blaine grabbed a wad of paper towel and got it wet to scrub at the back on her neck because she actually had turned a little bit blue there. The front of her face was fine though, no one would be the wiser. “I can’t believe they do this to you guys here, it’s so cruel.”

“Yeah, and you’ve only been here a few months, try dealing with it for 4 years. It never gets any better. How come they didn’t get you? We’re both losers”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty small, I guess. I hide in the shadows and no one really takes notice of me there.” He said quietly.

“Oh, that’s not true, Bee. You are the brightest star I know, and you light up every room you’re in.” Tina said from the sink. “Plus, don’t forget you’re the voice behind the internet’s most popular cover band.”

“Yes, but I’m hiding behind Sam’s face, Tina. No one even knows that it’s me. And it’s only been, what, 2 weeks? The internet will probably forget about us soon.”

Blam had skyrocketed in views and subscribers a few days after the first video was posted. Blaine had to remind himself multiple times that no one knew he was sitting behind the camera singing while Sam was in front pretending. But after a quick pep talk in the mirror of Sam’s bathroom before filming, he usually found it pretty fun. So much so, that he started to add other instruments into the mix while Sam played guitar. They had done a bit of a risky cover with an Ariana Grande song where Blaine had also set up his keyboard underneath the microphone to play along with Sam. The comments just assumed Blam was adding other layers to the mix after the recording, but in truth they hadn’t figured out how to edit that well yet and it was just Blaine playing live along with Sam, just behind the camera.

Blaine grabbed some more paper towel to dry Tina off and she was finally able to lift her head out of the sink.

“I think that’s as good as we can get it without shampoo and decent water pressure.” He said.

“Thank you, Blaine. What would I do without you? Although you did such a good job that now I’m late for Glee practice. Would you walk me there? You know just in case there’s someone else waiting in the corner to dump slushy all over me.”

Blaine wrapped his arm around Tina and walked her to the choir room, because that’s what best friends are for. It turns out practice hadn’t even started yet when they arrived. The team seemed to be in chaos with some people dancing to the left, a few people chatting around the piano, and the band tuning their very off-key instruments. However, Blaine knew these people and even though he wasn’t a part of the Glee club, he knew they were just energetic and chaotic even on their quietest of days.

“Blaine, what are you doing here?” Sam yelled when the pair walked into the choir room. “Never mind, get over here you have to see this video it’s hilarious!”

Blaine shrugged his shoulder at Tina and went to stand next to Sam at the piano. The video in question was some college kid getting pranked by his friends.

“Blaine, good to see you. Are you here to join us? Everyone gets in after a small audition.” Mr. Schue said when he walked in from his office.

“No,” he shook his head. “I was just walking Tina here. I should probably go.”

“You can stay and watch if you like. We would appreciate the feedback.” Mr. Schue pointed to the chairs in the back row. He hadn’t been in a choir room since he left his old school, but he also had never watched his friends perform like this yet, so he set his bag on the floor and took a seat. “Tina why is your hair wet? Actually, I don’t think I want to know. Okay, everyone let’s show Blaine what we got alight?”

The members of Glee blew him away. They performed some pop song that Blaine actually hadn’t heard yet, and he was mesmerized. Everyone’s vocals were on point, and although the dancing was super simple, it packed a big punch. Blaine found himself nodding along and tapping his foot to the beat. He wasn’t even focusing on the fact that he had spent longer than 5 minutes in a choir room for the first time in months.

Blaine had no feedback for the group because they were doing so well. He was enjoying himself so much that before he knew it practice was over, and he was walking into Sam’s house for their new routine of filming a YouTube video before homework and then video games.

“So, I made sheet music for that new song Drivers License. You know the really popular one by Olivia Rodrigo?” Blaine said as he took a seat at Sam’s desk and started pulling out the loose papers from his bag. He handed over his friends copy and got started setting up the keyboard and microphone. “I think I can play the piano again for this one, and I have been trying to learn some better editing so maybe a few songs from now we can add different vocal layers.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” Sam took his guitar out from under his bed to start tuning it for this song.

“Sam, you know we’re equal in this right? I’m not trying to be controlling or anything. You can pitch any idea you want whenever you want.” Blaine could feel his heartbeat rising at the thought that Sam might think of him being overbearing and too controlling.

“I know Blaine, it’s okay. I kind of like it this way, it’s less work for me and you’re really good at piecing the music together so why wouldn’t I let you do it.” Sam laughed and Blaine let out a breath.

They practiced the song a couple times before filming, Sam looking fresh as ever in front of the camera and Blaine just behind it. They only needed one take before Blaine was uploading the footage to his laptop. Sam might have secretly uploaded their first video to the Blam YouTube channel, but he had to take over. If they were going to get thousands, or apparently now millions of views, a little bit of video editing was needed, and Sam couldn’t sit still looking at a computer screen for longer than a squirrel’s train of thought. 

The editing wasn’t a whole lot and really only took up half an hour of Blaine’s time, and he usually finished it while still at Sam’s house. He had created an intro card to introduce Blam and the song they were covering in the video, as well as an outro card to ask for subscribers and likes and to show off their last video. Sometimes he would do some colour correction if Sam’s hair seemed to shine a little too bright, but other than that, they were a live cover band and Blaine was usually pretty happy with his vocals and Sam’s guitar.

The two of them watched the video once and then Blaine finally hit upload on their channel. They had pretty consistently been posting every day after school around 5pm, and Blaine was pretty sure the fans were waiting around every afternoon for their videos to go live since his email always pinged more with notifications of new comments when they post.

They both liked to scroll through the comments for the first little while when they post and like their favourite ones, but Sam had to run to the bathroom, so Blaine went to his emails first. At least that would give some people a chance to listen to the song first. He was going through the tedious task of clicking each email titled ‘new YouTube comment’ when one of them caught his eye.

_From: Daniel Fox  
danielf@foxesmusic.com _

_To: Blam  
beesings@gmail.com_

_Subject: BLAM music opportunity_

_Good Afternoon Blam,_

_Apologies for the informal greeting, I cannot seem to find your real name, and trust me, I dug around._

_My name is Daniel Fox, I am a musical director and producer under the name Foxes Music, located in New York City. I specialize in live performance on stage, the likes of Clueless the Musical, Princess Bride the Musical, and more. As well I produce music for a few New York City based artists whose work I have linked below._

_I am writing to offer you a unique opportunity. I would like to bring you out to New York City to record some original music, produced by myself and my team, as well as shoot accompanying music videos. In my digging around for your name, I did learn you are still a high school student, so the time of the aforementioned trip would not happen until late June and July._

_Please do get in touch, (would love to know your real name) and we can work out the nitty gritty._

_Daniel._

“Holy shit.” Blaine said as Sam walked back in from the bathroom.

“What, did someone leave a nasty comment on the video?” He asked as he took a seat next to Blaine to look at the computer.

“No. But we’ve been offered a trip to New York City to record original music.”

“Holy shit indeed.”

Blaine turned to look at his best friend.

“Sam.”

“Blaine.”

“Sam, seriously, look at me.” Blaine waited for the boy to turn his head. “This guy thinks it’s you. He talked about this as if it was one person. How do you go to New York and record original music, when your voice is mine and no one knows?”

_Shit._


	4. The College Experience - Kurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Brief mention of Kurt's mom's death, bullying, and underage drinking in this chapter.

From a young age, Kurt would always imagine what his life would be like when he got older. What high school would be like, what dating would be like, what college would be like. It was easier to fantasize about the future, than to live in his reality.

After they lost his mom, Kurt retreated into himself. He stopped joining the Berry’s for their Oscar and Tony parties, he stopped role playing ‘Broadway Stars’ with Rachel, and he stopped being a child. He had a rude awakening that life didn’t always give you what you deserved.

Despite the fact that Kurt’s dad, Burt, was also going through the worst heartbreak after the loss of his wife, he was always there for Kurt. He sat and watched the awards shows when his son didn’t want to go to the Berry’s for their party, he listened as Kurt belted out the latest Broadway musical songs, and he held him in the tightest hugs when he would come home in tears after an experience with some bullies.

When Kurt was young, he had imagined his high school experience to be somewhat like the shows. He would be out and proud, school president, and have a leading role in the school musical, along side Rachel. Reality was a little different. He was bullied and didn’t come out until his junior yea, although everyone seemed to know he was gay if the bullying was anything to go by. He never ran for school president, and he only ever got background roles in the musicals. Him and Rachel did both get into their Glee club, and he made some good friends, great friends even. But they never used his talents in the competitions. And dating? Non-existent. They might have been in New York state, but apparently you needed to be right in New York City for any LGBTQ+ representation to be seen.

When Kurt was a high school student, he imagined his college experience to be somewhat like the movies. A boy to hold hands with, lots of underage drinking, lots of studying, and a lead role in the college musical. Reality? Well, he couldn’t complain that much. It wasn’t completely going according to his 16-year-old imagination. But at 19 years old, he was finally having a good time in his own skin. Kurt and Rachel were in the last few months of their first year at NYADA, Rachel was about to star in a Broadway show, and Kurt was about to start rehearsals for his.

When Kurt was a child, he never imagined that he would be sat on a stranger’s lap, in a stranger’s house, drunk on vodka cran’s at 11pm, like he was currently. The stranger did have a name though. Greg, as Kurt learned in the kitchen 5 minutes ago while refilling his cup. Greg was pretty attractive. Tall and lean, with eyes as dark as the sea and a 5 o’clock shadow. He smelled like beer and AXE body spray, and currently had his hands resting on Kurt’s thigh’s as the two made conversation with the couple beside them. 

“So, what exams do you guys have coming up?” The girl beside them asked. Her hair was coloured blue and purple, sticking to her forehead from sweat, and Kurt had absolutely no idea who she was.

“Dance theory.” Greg said, and he leaned forward a bit to rest his chin on Kurt’s shoulder, his stubble rubbing against Kurt’s right cheek. “What about you, babe?” Babe? Kurt thought. He only met the guy a few minutes ago.

“Music theory.” He answered while the handsome stranger he was sitting on decided to move his hands a little too far north for Kurt’s liking. “I’m gonna go dance.” He announced, then got off Greg’s lap and made his way back to the kitchen, although this time he filled his glass with some water and grabbed a handful of chips from the table, a little too drunk to care about germs.

He was in some college townhouse a few blocks from campus, despite not knowing who its residents were, or what the party was for. Although you don’t really need a reason to host a party in college. Kurt did kind of wonder who got all alcohol because he recognized quite a few fresh first year faces like his own, none of who were of age. Not like anyone cared though.

He spotted Rachel dancing with a group of girls on the far side of the living room and went to make his way over to them, but he was stopped by Greg.

“Dance with me.” He whispered in Kurt’s ear, but didn’t give him a chance to answer before he was pulling him into the centre of the room. Kurt forgot about the handsy incident on the couch a few moments prior and immersed himself into the music, moving along with Greg, hardly an inch of space between them. A few times Kurt would look around at the people and kept noticing a smaller guy with a buzzed head looking their way only to avert his eyes when he was spotted.

“Hey, do you know that guy?” Kurt finally asked his dance partner after the 5ft song, when the guy kept looking over.

Greg, despite being taller than Kurt, seemed to shrink into himself when he noticed the other man.

“It’s my ex.”

The pair had stopped dancing now and were just swaying on their feet.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I sense that there’s more you want to say to that.” Kurt said and Greg nodded.

“We had a fight this morning and he broke up with me. I didn’t think he would come to the party tonight. But then I noticed him walk in when I was standing in the kitchen, and then you came in and I kind of just went with it. You know, to make him jealous.” Greg explained.

“So, you were using me?”

“I’m sorry. It’s so hard not to notice you, I mean you’re hot as hell,” Kurt nodded along to that, “and I figured if he noticed me with you he would realize what a mistake the fight was and come steal me away or something stupid. But he’s just been watching from a far.”

“Probably doesn’t want to get to close because I’m so hot I’ll burn him.” This earned a laugh from Greg, which broke the tension that was between them.

“I didn’t even get to the best part of my plan.” Greg leaned in a little closer.

“Which was?”

“A kiss.”

“Who said you had to stop with your plan?” Kurt said with a twinkle in his eye. He didn’t know why he was being so bold. This boy he just met less than an hour ago just confessed to trying to make his ex-boyfriend jealous. Usually Kurt would wait until he at least got a phone number before getting a kiss.

Greg leaned in some more and Kurt pushed himself up on his toes a bit to meet the boy halfway. His lips were soft, but he tasted like beer which was definitely not Kurt’s favourite. Kurt wrapped his arms around his neck and opened his mouth a little wider. Greg placed his hands on the small of Kurt’s back, pulling him in closer, moving his hands a little lower to his –

“Greg?”

The pair broke apart and standing in front of them was Mr. Buzzed Head, Greg’s ex, but probably soon to be boyfriend again.

“I should go.” Kurt said. “Exams to study for and what not. See you around, Greg.” He turned away from the two boys and walked directly to Rachel, who was still dancing with the girls. They welcomed him into their group, and they danced for a little while longer before Rachel declared it was time for them to catch a taxi back to their apartment.

~~

“You really shouldn’t drink that much, Kurt. You’re a Broadway actor now, you have to take care of yourself.” Rachel said as she placed a glass of lemon water next to his bed with a few ibuprofen pills for his headache.

“My rehearsals don’t start for another week.” Kurt groaned in response to her and pulled the covers over his head.

“Take me for example,” She continued, completely ignoring Kurt and his cues of wanting her to leave. “I’ve always started my morning with a glass of warm honey lemon water to moisten my throat, followed by a steam facial, and a vigorous vocal warm up routine. Then I make sure to eat a healthy diet through my day and look how it’s all worked out. I have a lead role on Broadway, can you believe it?”

“Yes,” Kurt answered the rhetorical question. “I’m pretty sure we all believe it, since it’s the only thing you’ve talked about since you got the part.” He was sitting up now to drink his water and swallow his pills.

“Speaking of Broadway, I have to go to rehearsals now. Try not to throw up, I don’t want to smell that when I come back to the apartment.” Rachel said as she finally walked out of his room. He listened for her to close and lock the apartment door before he sunk back down into his bedsheets to go back to sleep. So much for studying for exams.


	5. High School Up's and Down's - Blaine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter contains bullying (physical and spoken) and homophobia. Please read with your own caution. Skip to the first ~~ break if you want to skip it.
> 
> (It's not really going to get any worse than this chapter, I swear! It's a story of self discovery and teenage/young adult fun!)

School had always been pretty easy for Blaine. He had good grades, lots of friends, and parents who supported him with everything. They stayed up late a countless number of nights after Blaine confessed his love for music and they bought him a guitar, because he would play it all hours of the night.

Him, Garrett, Frankie, Daisy and Landon - his group of musical loving, theatre crazy friends - starred in all the school musicals, created an after-school band that would play exclusively in the driveway of his house, and they even had dreams of going off to New York City together to create their own Broadway masterpiece. Then senior year came.

The issue was, Blaine grew up in a town that wasn’t very opened minded. He thought it was safe to assume that because him and his group of friends had never really talked about where any of them stood in terms of LGBTQ+ people that they would be okay with the fact that he was gay. That maybe it was never brought up because no one in school was really out, no one really seemed to know anyone who was gay. 

He had these ideations that he would be the start of the trend at school. Well, not really a trend, more like the leader of the movement to accept and express who you were without fear. Surely, he wasn’t the only one hiding who they really were at school. Blaine had come out to his parents years ago, and it was a little rocky, but they had some very intense late-night family conversations and learned how Blaine felt, that it wasn’t wrong, and that he wasn’t any different. Still the same Blaine they knew and raised, but also now a Blaine that could be free in his own home and be truly himself. 

If only it went that ‘easy’ at school.

There’s a bit of a stigma that theatre loving people are nerdy, diva’s, or LGBTQ+. Blaine kind of agreed with that stigma. His friend group had always been a little too interested in Broadway drama, or making music, or studying too hard for history class, so they never really talked about relationships. They never gossiped over who hooked up with who or talked about who they found attractive and wanted to date. That is, until senior year.

Something had changed between them over the summer. Blaine had gone away for most of it to visit his brother in Los Angeles, and when he returned it was as if his friends were different people. Gone was the talk about plans to record an album based on a made-up Harry Potter Broadway show they dreamed of creating, and in came talk about how Garrett hooked up with Jessica, and Frankie made out with Carrie, Landon had the hot’s for Wendy, and even Daisy was talking about asking her neighbour Brandon out on a date.

Of course, Blaine had just gotten back from Los Angeles. The land of Hollywood, where his big brother got a starring role in a nationwide commercial that everyone he knew of had seen. His friends didn’t ask him how it was to see his brother for the first time in a few years, and instead asked, _how many hot girls did you lay eyes on? Did you make out with any of them? Get anyone’s number? Want to hook me up with any of the hot girls you met?_

Blaine was so taken aback with the sudden shift in their relationship that he laughed it off at first. But then the weeks continued, his friends didn’t try out for the musical, they were in relationships and wanted to spend every second they could with their partner. Their after-school band broke up. Study sessions turned into Blaine sitting alone in the library with no one to bounce practice questions off of. Really the only time Blaine got to see his friends was at the lunch table, and even then, all they wanted to talk about was girls.

Blaine was so comfortable in his skin as a gay teenager, thanks to his parents and also the fact that he wasn’t a different person just because he wanted a boyfriend, that one afternoon while they were all sitting at the lunch table, he finally blurted it out.

“Hey, I just thought you guys should know that I’m actually gay, that’s why I never gave you any girl’s number from LA, I didn’t have any.” He had said in between bites of food, a little laugh on the end because this wasn’t that serious of a conversation. 

Except apparently it was. A serious conversation that is.

His friends stopped talking. A Starbucks refresher frozen mid-air in Daisy’s hand, Garrett stopped mid chew, Frankie’s recently unlocked cell phone locked again from inactivity, Landon’s wandering hand on his girlfriend’s thigh paused, and said girlfriend looked over in shock.

Daisy was the only one to speak.

“Ew.” She had said, and it was enough to shatter Blaine. One word, one syllable, comprised of just two letters, and that was all Blaine had to hear to know that years of friendship was over. That, and the freezing refresher that was ripped out of Daisy’s frozen hand by Garrett and then dumped on his head. It was not refreshing. 

Everyone knew by the end of the day, and he was not some magical leader of the force of acceptance. 

By the end of the week his locker had been defaced multiple times with slurs written in sharpie. 

By the end of the second week he had been pushed into the walls or shoved to the floor too many times to count and dropped from the musical without a reason.

By the end of the third week he had to drop out of his school’s glee club because people only came to boo him off stage. 

And at the end of the month Blaine was dragged behind the bleachers and beaten up by a group of students he didn’t even know. His parents pulled him out of school that night, just in time to miss the Halloween school party.

He spent about a week in the hospital with a fractured wrist and a bruised chest, and quickly realized that he had to create new social media accounts to avoid the online bullying. 

Blaine’s parents got him some schoolwork to do at home while he recovered, and by thanksgiving they made the decision for him to transfer schools. Of course, they found out they weren’t in a school district to send him anywhere else, so they moved to the nearest town with the school that had the least number of incidents. 

Blaine started at McKinley High after the holiday break.

~~

“This is it you guys, we’re moving on to the next chapter of our lives.” Tina said with tears in her eyes. 

“Tina, don’t you dare let those tears fall.” Sam said. The three of them were standing backstage after graduation, diplomas in hand and bittersweet smiles on their faces.

“Yeah, we’re all heading to New York city, it’s not like we’re going to be far away from each other.” Blaine brought Tina into a hug.

“But you guys are heading there in like, a week, to become big famous popstar's. I’m not going there until the end of the summer.” Tina said.

“Actually….”

“About that,” Blaine said. “You’re coming with us.” 

“Are you joking?” Tina said, and when Blaine and Sam shook their heads ‘no’ she jumped into their arms, hopping up in down in happiness. “Wait, how?” She asked after a few minutes of them all jumping in circles.

“Well, we had to get creative.” Sam said. “Obviously Blaine is my voice, and he doesn’t want anyone to know that. So when we wrote back to the producer guy we told him I was shy and was only comfortable singing in front of my best friends, and that I would need to get familiar with the studio and stuff and maybe we could like record my voice from a box where no one could see me. That way Blaine can come in the box too and actually do all the singing. And he agreed and said he would put us all in a hotel suite for a month while we do it!”

“And then I’m going to move into the NYU dorms early like I planned from the start. And you can move into the Columbia dorms early if you want as well, all you have to do is send in an email and they let you know if it’s okay.” Blaine said.

“Wow, this is all happening so fast! I have to go home and pack!” Tina pushed her way past the boys to head out of the auditorium, they followed behind her.

“Tina, we still have a week left.” Sam laughed.

“That’s not enough time!” She yelled from down the hall, then disappeared around the corner.

Sam and Blaine realized it was useless to chase after her and stopped in the hallway, just outside of the choir room. Sam took a step into the room, then another, and Blaine followed. Eventually the pair were standing in the centre of the empty room, no longer filled with chaotic students enjoying themselves.

“I’m going to miss this room so much. So many ups and downs happened in here. So much love was shared and so much happiness. I really wish you had been here since freshman year Blaine, then you could have performed with us. I still don’t really know why you didn’t join us when you moved here. Mr. Schue totally would have let you. I don’t think you realize how talented you are, Blaine. I wish you would sing in public again.”

Blaine teared up at Sam’s words. He sucked in a big breath, then let it out slowly while looking over the room, at the awards, the instruments, the chairs stacked in the corner.

“Maybe one day, Sam. Maybe one day.”

~~

Blaine had given Tina control over the Blam social media accounts. Mostly because he didn’t know how to promote a YouTube cover band, and partly because he was afraid of negative comments. But Blaine had just graduated high school, top of his class. This was the time to start over, work towards new goals. He was already making great strides towards performing again, and he was tired of hiding in the shadows so much. 

So that night, after graduation, he logged into the Blam Instagram account and posted a picture of his hands on his piano, no longer dusty and unused in the dining room. A copy of the sheet music for the song they just covered visible at the top.

All the other Blam Instagram pictures had been screenshots of Sam, with promotion underneath for their latest video. This was the first personal photo, and Blaine captioned it, _making great strides._

Instantly he got notifications of people liking the picture, and he went to read the first comment posted.

khbroadwaybby: _you have beautiful hands_

Blaine clicked on the user’s profile, but it was set to private. He did see however that his bio said NYC, and his profile picture, though a far-away shot of a tall slender figure on stage, made Blaine assume he was young. He went back and clicked like on the comment, as well as liking a few others that appeared saying how much they liked the cover. Things were looking up for one Blaine Anderson.


	6. Broadway Newbie - Kurt

Kurt was ecstatic. The Blam Instagram account had been posting more personal content the last few days and he was in full on crazy fan mode. Crazy like how Taylor Swift fans over dissect each and everything she posts for clues and Easter eggs to her future projects. Except Kurt wasn’t sure there even was any clues in the Blam photos, but he sure did look.

“I’m just saying, they’re nice hands, but they don’t really look like the hands in the videos, you know?” Kurt said to Rachel and shoved his phone in her face for the umpteenth time. She gently pushed his hand away.

“No, I don’t know. Because I’m not obsessed. That’s obviously a staged photo, there’s no way that a pair of hands would look the same in motion on a guitar as they do placed all perfectly on a piano. And why are you spending so much time looking at these pictures, Kurt? He’s like, in high school.” Rachel said with distaste.

“We were in high school just last year, Rachel. He’s obviously only a year younger, there’s nothing wrong with that!” He threw his hands up in the air, getting a little too defensive on behalf of an internet personality whose name he didn’t even know.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” She put her hands up in surrender. “I forgot you had a thing for younger men.”

“I do not!”

“You do.”

“I just made out with Greg at a party, and he’s two years older than me.” Kurt put his hands on his hips.

“Okay, that was a rebound on his part to get his ex-boyfriend back, Kurt. Maybe you have a thing for hookups with older guys, but your one and only relationship was in high school and he was two years younger.” Rachel was in the kitchen now, fixing them both a cup of lemon herb tea. The pair both had to head out soon for rehearsals and a sore throat from an argument over boys was not something they needed.

“What a disaster that was,” Kurt whispered to himself. “But alright, I’ll admit I see your point.” Kurt said louder then accepted the tea and sat back down on their couch.

“Do you think maybe it’s time to find someone to actually date?”

“You say that like I’m some promiscuous gay teen, Rachel. I only hooked up with that guy from music theory class and made out with a couple others at some parties.” Kurt rolled his eyes.

“Alright, enough boy talk. I have to get ready to leave. What time do you have to be at rehearsals?” Rachel asked.

“I have a while yet. They told me not to do anything special because they’re testing makeup and taking outfit sizing first thing or something. And they said to bring some athletic clothes to change into.” Kurt answered. Rachel gave a little excited shimmy as she made her way to her room.

“I can’t believe it’s your first Broadway rehearsal! I remember mine like it was yesterday. It was so exciting.” She paused in the hallway to gaze off into space, probably dreaming about her first Broadway rehearsal that was only a few months ago.

“Quit your Broadway talk and go have your shower so that I can have mine.” Kurt pushed her gently into the bathroom before heading to the kitchen to stack their tea mugs into the dishwasher. Then he went into his bedroom to pick out his first day outfit. Even though they said don’t go crazy didn’t mean he wasn’t going to look his absolute best. He settled on a pair of comfortable jeans that were easy to take off in case he needed to, a patterned long sleeve, and a white vest to tie it all in.

Rachel usually took what felt like ten years in the shower, so he took the opportunity to open YouTube and play the latest Blam cover while scrolling through their Instagram. The earlier posts had just been screenshots from their YouTube channel to promote the newest song, but a few days ago the fans were blessed with a picture of Blam’s hands on his piano that Kurt always heard in the music, but never saw in the video. Then they got multiple more personal pictures a day from the account.

Kurt’s favourite was the most recent one. A picture at a park somewhere in Ohio, he assumed based off of the bio, during golden hour. It focused on the bindings of a well-loved notebook, glowing orange from the sun, with some blurry trees and a small pond in the background. It was captioned _‘soaking up the sun, working on something fun’_. It was a cheesy rhyme, but it was Kurt’s first clue that maybe Blam was writing original musical. The notebook did look like it could be a songbook, and what’s more fun than writing music? Kurt couldn’t help but comment on every photo, and this one had been no different.

khbroadwaybby: _joking with my friends, while we ride in my Mercedes Benz_

It was a joke, a little play on words easy rhyme to go along with the caption. What Kurt didn’t expect was to see a reply to his comment when he looked at the photo again.

blam: _got the top down, eighties music playing as we cruise around this town_

A comment from Blam. Posted only a few minutes ago. He took a second to freak out, because before this his comments had only received a like from Blam, and so did everyone else. But this was a full-on comment. He put those beautiful hands to work to answer his stupid rhyme, with another one! Kurt took exactly one minutes to think before he hit reply.

khbradwaybby: _caught the chills, as the car climbs up and down these Hollywood hills_

His rhymes were a little rusty, definitely resembling something written by a second grader. But it’s not like this was going to be some big hit song, he was just joking around with his current internet celebrity crush. No big deal.

He hit post then closed the app and listened to Rachel through the wall, practicing her solos while in the shower. No doubt she had grabbed one of his shampoo bottles and was using it as a microphone, they were always on a different shelf every time he got in. After his racing heart slowed down to a manageable level, he opened the app again and hit refresh.

blam: _sorry, can’t put the top up. how else would we get the gorgeous golden hour glow for our selfie?_

The reply wasn’t a rhyme, but it was almost better because was he…. was he flirting? Kurt really couldn’t tell over the internet. It felt kind of flirty, but in a really subtle way. There was only one think Kurt could say to this.

khbroadwaybby: _beauty is pain anyways, as one queen bee would say_

“It’s all yours, Kurt!” He heard Rachel say as she exited the bathroom. If he was going to get a reply to his comment, it was going to have to wait. The stage was calling him, and he had to get ready.

~~~

Kurt’s first day wasn’t actually taking place at the theatre, but rather a dance studio down the road. The dance numbers were going to be the bulk of his training before making it to stage. And since Kurt didn’t have a role that had many speaking lines, but more background work, his schedule had him on as most days for dance rehearsals.

When he arrived too the studio, the makeup artists tested him for his skin shades and the costume designers took his measurements for his stage outfits, then they went straight into rehearsing the dance numbers once everyone changed into their athletic clothes. 

Brittany, despite not being the best person to act alongside, was a very good dance teacher. She did kind of freak him out, as well as some other Broadway newbies, when she did the dance for them first. But she was able to break it down into easy segments, making sure everyone was able to accomplish the first section before moving onto the next one.

Daniel, the music director, was in on the rehearsals as well. Earlier in the week he had been in a sound studio with the band to record the instrumentals of the songs, perfecting them for when the cast started vocal rehearsals, as well as when they get to go into the studio to record vocals for the original cast album. Right now, they were dancing to the songs with Daniel as the demo voice for reference. His role today was really to make sure that the pacing of the recorded songs matched up with how Brittany choreographed the dances.

After about 2 hours of straight dancing, they were given a short break. Kurt was sweaty and out of breath yet feeling fantastic at the same time. He sipped on his water and decided he should introduce him to the lead cast members, Mason and Bridgit. The pair seemed to already know each other, having spent the majority of rehearsal within 5 feet of each other.

As he walked up to them while they stood next to the snack table, he couldn’t help but admire how cute Mason was. His hair fell in beachy blond waves across his forehead, a stark contrast to his sun kissed skin. Kurt noticed how toned his arms looked in his tank top and couldn’t help but imagine his chest being just as toned. Unlike with his imagines of the mysterious internet person behind Blam, Kurt was positive that Mason played for the same team thanks to his late night google session researching the cast.

Mason was the ‘one to watch’ this Broadway season, unironically listed right underneath one Rachel Berry in the article he was reading the other night. Mason had gone to performing arts schools his entire life and most definitely came from a family with money. He had no shame in being seen with potential boyfriends, though no news article actually confirmed them as boyfriends.

“Mason, Bridgit, hi. I’m Kurt Hummel, I play Tanner.” He moved his water bottle to his left hand so he could stick out his right hand.

Mason tilted his head down and then up, making sure Kurt knew he was checking him out. It would have been flattering, except for the fact that he rolled his eyes and turned away. Bridgit stepped forward to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you Kurt, I play Mack.” Kurt had to admit, he didn’t do much research on Bridgit, having got distracted from Instagram pictures of Mason at the gym. But he instantly got the impression that she could become a life-long friend, in part because she made the effort to introduce herself after the little embarrassment with Mason, and because her smile made him feel safe and comfortable. Her hair was held back in braids and she had on gold glittery eyeshadow that contrasted beautifully against her brown skin. It hadn’t smudged at all from sweat that made Kurt wonder if she just did the same dances he did.

“How are you finding day one?” He managed to ask.

“It’s been pretty typical. Also, ignore Mason. I’ve known him for a few years, and he thinks he’s hot shit and better than everyone else. He warms up to people though, give it a few more rehearsals and he might even crack a smile.” She laughed.

“Okay let’s get back to it!” Brittany yelled before he could reply.

They went over the parts separately for another two hours, which had Kurt feeling like he was about to drown in his own sweat. Not a great look on him. Then finally they went over the dance as a whole. The first run through was rocky, he missed a few steps but was able to pull through and complete it. After all, it’s his first show and his first rehearsal, they have loads of time before they go live.

Brittany set the music up for them to go through it once more, but after a few second Daniel yelled over top of the noise.

“Stop the music!” He waited for Brittany to hit pause before continuing. “I just got word that my new client arrived early to the city and I have to go meet them at their hotel. So, I have to leave early but wanted to let you all know how fantastic I think you all are. This is only the first dance rehearsal and I see so much talent and improvement from just this morning. You all are nailing it. Keep up with the great work. I’ll catch you later.”

Brittany only made them go through the dance a few more times before she declared them all too tired to complete the moves and sent everyone home for the day. Kurt was so tired that he didn’t even change out of his athletic clothes. Before he knew it, he was walking into his apartment and falling face first into the couch.

“How was it?” Rachel was on him in an instant, forcing his head to turn to the side so he could speak.

“It was exhausting but exhilarating. The choreographer is amazing, she was so good at breaking the dance down so we could learn it better, and the cast seems really nice. Well, except for Mason.” Kurt rolled his eyes and put his face back into the cushion.

“Wait a sec, Mason as in Mason Brant? My Broadway competition?”

“The one and only.” He mumbled into the couch.

“Tell me all about him. What are his strengths? What are his weaknesses?”

“Rachel, stop.” Kurt sat up finally. “He didn’t even speak to me. I tried to introduce myself and he just looked me up and down and turned away, like I’m some ugly creature he can’t bear to look at.”

“Kurt, you’re hot. He was probably just speechless because of your hotness. I know what will make you feel better.” She said and walked over to the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

She came back into the living room with a bottle and 2 wine glasses, plus the TV remote.

“My dads stopped by this afternoon to congratulate you on your first day, but of course they messed up the time and you weren’t here. But they dropped off a couple bottles of sparkling champagne for us to celebrate. Also, Moulin Rouge is on tonight. So, go take a shower that way we can drink champagne and watch movies.” Rachel pulled him off the couch and pushed him down the hall right into the bathroom, like he did to her in the morning.

Once securely locked in the bathroom, since Rachel had a habit of walking in without knocking, he stripped off his sweaty clothes and tossed them into the hamper. Then as he was waiting for his shower to heat up, he opened his phone for the first time in nearly six hours to a notification of a DM on Instagram from the Blam account.

blam: _I think you have some pretty great song writing skills ;)_

His heart nearly stopped. Okay, so this definitely was flirting. It was sent right after their conversation in the comments this morning and Kurt felt a little guilty for having unintentionally ignored it for six hours. He wanted to keep ignoring it. To get in the shower and forget it was there because how do you even flirt with someone you only know from them singing covers of pop songs on the internet? But he had opened the message now, so if Blam came back on and looked for a reply it would just say ‘seen’ and then for sure he would assume Kurt was ignoring him. So, he gathered his courage and messaged back.

khbroadwaybby: _thank you, it’s my hidden talent to be superior in rhyme battles XD_

It wasn’t his best attempt at flirting, but he was genuinely nervous. It was getting pretty late and Kurt wasn’t sure if Blam would even be on social media at this time, so Kurt got into the shower, did his routine as fast as he ever had, then got into his most comfortable pair of sweatpants to watch movies and drink champagne with Rachel after his first day of Broadway rehearsals. The pair clinked their glasses together in celebration. This was everything they had worked for.


End file.
